The present invention relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to assigning communication resources in a communication system.
Communication systems are continually becoming more sophisticated and complex. For example, as broadband communication services evolve, such as broadband systems employing Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC), a great variety of services are anticipated to be offered, and a great variety of different sorts of subscribers are anticipated to be serviced. For example, a broadband communication system utilizing HFC may offer Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), computer data transmission, along with video conferencing services, among others. With respect to the subscribers served, in some cases subscribers will tend to be single-family homes, while in other cases subscribers will tend to be sophisticated businesses or multi-subscriber facilities such as apartment buildings, multi-tenant commercial facilities and the like.
The great variety of services anticipated combined with the great variety of types and natures of subscribers introduces a particular challenge for design and operation of the communication systems. More specifically, it is clear that demand on the transmission capabilities of the communications system will vary greatly depending on the particular type of service being used (e.g. video conferences versus POTS) and the nature of the subscriber (e.g. single home versus multi-tenant or business establishment).
More specifically, the challenge presented is to efficiently and effectively allocate communication resources, for example Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) channels, or any other construct correlating to band width, depending upon the demands of the particular service being used and/or the nature of the subscriber.
Consequently, what is needed is a method and associate apparatus for efficiently managing communication resources for users and services with varying quality and bandwidth requirements.